Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Department of Neuropeptide Research in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, University Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
J Neuroendocrinol. 2021 May;33(5):e12970. doi: 10.1111/jne.12970. Epub 2021 Apr 14.
Oxytocin is primarily synthesised in the brain and is widely known for its role in lactation and parturition after being released into the blood from the posterior pituitary gland. Nevertheless, peripheral tissues have also been reported to express oxytocin. Using systemic injection of a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector, we investigated the expression of the green fluorescent protein Venus under the control of the oxytocin promoter in the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas and testes of adult rats. Here, we confirm that the vector infects oxytocin neurones of the enteric nervous system in ganglia of the myenteric and submucosal plexuses. Venus was detected in 25%-60% of the ganglia in the myenteric and submucosal plexuses identified by co-staining with the neuronal marker PGP9.5. Oxytocin expression was also detected in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas and the Leydig cells of the testes. Our data illustrate that peripheral administration of the viral vector represents a powerful method for selectively labelling oxytocin-producing cells outside the brain.
催产素主要在大脑中合成，在从垂体后叶释放到血液中后，广泛用于泌乳和分娩。然而，外周组织也被报道表达催产素。我们使用系统注射重组腺相关病毒载体，研究了在成年大鼠的胃肠道、胰腺和睾丸中，受催产素启动子控制的绿色荧光蛋白 Venus 的表达。在这里，我们证实该载体感染了肌间神经丛和黏膜下神经丛神经节中的肠神经系的催产素神经元。通过与神经元标记物 PGP9.5 共染色，在肌间神经丛和黏膜下神经丛的神经节中检测到 25%-60%的 Venus。在胰腺的胰岛和睾丸的 Leydig 细胞中也检测到了催产素的表达。我们的数据表明，外周给予病毒载体是一种在大脑外选择性标记催产素产生细胞的有效方法。
